Gene therapy is a recently developed concept for which a wide range of applications can be and have been envisioned. In gene therapy, a molecule carrying genetic information is introduced into some or all cells of a host, as a result of which the genetic information is added to the host in a functional format.
The genetic information added may be a gene or a derivative of a gene, such as a cDNA, which encodes a protein. This is a functional format in that the protein can be expressed by the machinery of the host cell.
The genetic information can also be a sequence of nucleotides complementary to a sequence of nucleotides (either DNA or RNA) present in the host cell. This is a functional format in that the added DNA (nucleic acid) molecule or copies made thereof in situ are capable of base pairing with the complementary sequence present in the host cell.
Applications include the treatment of genetic disorders by supplementing a protein or other substance which, because of the genetic disorder, is either absent or present in insufficient amounts in the host, the treatment of tumors, and the treatment of other acquired diseases such as (auto)immune diseases, infections, etc.
As may be inferred from the above, there are basically three different approaches in gene therapy: the first directed towards compensating for a deficiency in a (mammalian) host, the second directed towards the removal or elimination of unwanted substances (organisms or cells) and the third towards application of a recombinant vaccine (against tumors or foreign microorganisms).
For the purpose of gene therapy, adenoviruses carrying deletions have been proposed as suitable vehicles for genetic information. Adenoviruses are nonenveloped DNA viruses. Gene-transfer vectors derived from adenoviruses (so-called “adenoviral vectors”) have a number of features that make them particularly useful for gene transfer for such purposes. For example, the biology of the adenovirus is characterized in detail, the adenovirus is not associated with severe human pathology, the adenovirus is extremely efficient in introducing its DNA into the host cell, the adenovirus can infect a wide variety of cells and has a broad host-range, the adenovirus can be produced in large quantities with relative ease, and the adenovirus can be rendered replication defective by deletions in the early-region 1 (“E1”) of the viral genome.
The adenovirus genome is a linear double-stranded DNA molecule of approximately 36,000 base pairs with the 55 kDa terminal protein covalently bound to the 5′ terminus of each strand. The adenoviral (“Ad”) DNA contains identical Inverted Terminal Repeats (“ITR”) of about 100 base pairs with the exact length depending on the serotype. The viral origins of replication are located within the ITRs exactly at the genome ends. DNA synthesis occurs in two stages. First, the replication proceeds by strand displacement, generating a daughter duplex molecule and a parental displaced strand. The displaced strand is single stranded and can form a so-called “panhandle” intermediate, which allows replication initiation and generation of a daughter duplex molecule. Alternatively, replication may proceed from both ends of the genome simultaneously, obviating the requirement to form the panhandle structure. The replication is summarized in FIG. 14 adapted from Lechner and Kelly (1977).
During the productive infection cycle, the viral genes are expressed in two phases: the early phase, which is the period up to viral DNA replication, and the late phase, which coincides with the initiation of viral DNA replication. During the early phase, only the early gene products, encoded by regions E1, E2, E3 and E4, are expressed, which carry out a number of functions that prepare the cell for synthesis of viral structural proteins (Berk, 1986). During the late phase, the late viral gene products are expressed in addition to the early gene products, and host cell DNA and protein synthesis are shut off. Consequently, the cell becomes dedicated to the production of viral DNA and of viral structural proteins (Tooze, 1981).
The E1 region of adenovirus is the first region of adenovirus expressed after infection of the target cell. This region consists of two transcriptional units, the E1A and E1B genes, which both are required for oncogenic transformation of primary (embryonic) rodent cultures. The main functions of the E1A gene products are 1) to induce quiescent cells to enter the cell cycle and resume cellular DNA synthesis and 2) to transcriptionally activate the E1B gene and the other early regions (E2, E3, E4). Transfection of primary cells with the E1A gene alone can induce unlimited proliferation (immortalization) but does not result in complete transformation. However, expression of E1A in most cases results in induction of programmed cell death (apoptosis) and only occasionally immortalization (Jochemsen et al., 1987). Co-expression of the E1B gene is required to prevent induction of apoptosis and for complete morphological transformation to occur. In established immortal cell lines, high level expression of E1A can cause complete transformation in the absence of E1B (Roberts et al., 1985).
The E1B encoded proteins assist E1A in redirecting the cellular functions to allow viral replication. The E1B 55 kDa and E4 33 kDa proteins, which form a complex that is essentially localized in the nucleus, function in inhibiting the synthesis of host proteins and in facilitating the expression of viral genes. Their main influence is to establish selective transport of viral mRNAs from the nucleus to the cytoplasm concomitantly with the onset of the late phase of infection. The E1B 21 kDa protein is important for correct temporal control of the productive infection cycle, thereby preventing premature death of the host cell before the virus life cycle has been completed. Mutant viruses incapable of expressing the E1B 21 kDa gene product exhibit a shortened infection cycle that is accompanied by excessive degradation of host cell chromosomal DNA (deg-phenotype) and in an enhanced cytopathic effect (cyt-phenotype) (Telling et al., 1994). The deg and cyt phenotypes are suppressed when, in addition, the E1A gene is mutated, indicating that these phenotypes are a function of E1A (White et al., 1988). Furthermore, the E1B 21 kDa protein slows down the rate by which E1A switches on the other viral genes. It is not yet known through which mechanisms E1B 21 kDa quenches these E1A-dependent functions.
Vectors derived from human adenoviruses, in which at least the E1 region has been deleted and replaced by a gene of interest, have been used extensively for gene therapy experiments in the preclinical and clinical phase.
As stated before, all adenovirus vectors currently used in gene therapy are believed to have a deletion in the E1 region, where novel genetic information can be introduced. The E1 deletion renders the recombinant virus replication defective (Stratford-Perricaudet and Perricaudet, 1991). We have demonstrated that recombinant adenoviruses are able to efficiently transfer recombinant genes to the rat liver and airway epithelium of rhesus monkeys (Bout et al., 1994b; Bout et al., 1994a). In addition, we (Vincent et al., 1996a; Vincent et al., 1996b) and others (see, e.g., Haddada et al., 1993) have observed a very efficient in vivo adenovirus mediated gene transfer to a variety of tumor cells in vitro and to solid tumors in animal models (lung tumors, glioma) and human xenografts in immunodeficient mice (lung) in vivo (reviewed by Blaese et al., 1995).
In contrast to (for instance) retroviruses, adenoviruses 1) do not integrate into the host cell genome, 2) are able to infect nondividing cells, and 3) are able to efficiently transfer recombinant genes in vivo (Brody and Crystal, 1994). Those features make adenoviruses attractive candidates for in vivo gene transfer of, for instance, suicide or cytokine genes into tumor cells.
However, a problem associated with current recombinant adenovirus technology is the possibility of unwanted generation of replication competent adenovirus (“RCA”) during the production of recombinant adenovirus (Lochmüller et al., 1994; Imler et al., 1996). This is caused by homologous recombination between overlapping sequences from the recombinant vector and the adenovirus constructs present in the complementing cell line, such as the 293 cells (Graham et al., 1977). RCA is undesirable in batches to be used in clinical trials because RCA 1) will replicate in an uncontrolled fashion, 2) can complement replication-defective recombinant adenovirus, causing uncontrolled multiplication of the recombinant adenovirus, and 3) batches containing RCA induce significant tissue damage and hence strong pathological side effects (Lochmüller et al., 1994). Therefore, batches to be used in clinical trials should be proven free of RCA (Ostrove, 1994).
It was generally thought that E1-deleted vectors would not express any other adenovirus genes. However, recently it has been demonstrated that some cell types are able to express adenovirus genes in the absence of E1 sequences. This indicates that some cell types possess the machinery to drive transcription of adenovirus genes. In particular, it was demonstrated that such cells synthesize E2A and late adenovirus proteins.
In a gene therapy setting, this means that transfer of the therapeutic recombinant gene to somatic cells not only results in expression of the therapeutic protein but may also result in the synthesis of viral proteins. Cells that express adenoviral proteins are recognized and killed by Cytotoxic T Lymphocytes, which thus 1) eradicates the transduced cells and 2) causes inflammations (Bout et al., 1994a; Engelhardt et al., 1993; Simon et al., 1993). As this adverse reaction hampers gene therapy, several solutions to this problem have been suggested, such as 1) using immunosuppressive agents after treatment, 2) retention of the adenovirus E3 region in the recombinant vector (see European patent application EP 95202213), and 3) using temperature-sensitive (“ts”) mutants of human adenovirus, which have a point mutation in the E2A region rendering them temperature sensitive, as has been claimed in patent WO/28938.
However, these strategies to circumvent the immune response have their limitations. The use of ts mutant recombinant adenovirus diminishes the immune response to some extent but was less effective in preventing pathological responses in the lungs (Engelhardt et al., 1994a).
The E2A protein may induce an immune response by itself, and it plays a pivotal role in the switch to the synthesis of late adenovirus proteins. Therefore, it is attractive to make temperature-sensitive recombinant human adenoviruses.
A major drawback of this system is the fact that although the E2 protein is unstable at the nonpermissive temperature, the immunogenic protein is still being synthesized. In addition, it is to be expected that the unstable protein does activate late gene expression, albeit to a low extent. ts125 mutant recombinant adenoviruses have been tested, and prolonged recombinant gene expression was reported (Yang et al., 1994b; Engelhardt et al., 1994a; Engelhardt et al., 1994b; Yang et al., 1995). However, pathology in the lungs of cotton rats was still high (Engelhardt et al., 1994a), indicating that the use of ts mutants results in only a partial improvement in recombinant adenovirus technology. Others (Fang et al., 1996) did not observe prolonged gene expression in mice and dogs using ts125 recombinant adenovirus. An additional difficulty associated with the use of ts125 mutant adenoviruses is that a high frequency of reversion is observed. These revertants are either real revertants or the result of second site mutations (Kruijer et al., 1983; Nicolas et al., 1981). Both types of revertants have an E2A protein that functions at normal temperature and, therefore, have toxicity similar to the wild-type virus.